Northside Church - Sydney
He Week 4: He will return
We're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. About 12 months ago that the Harold Camping phenomenon broke onto the media scene around the world. Remember Harold Camping? It was a fairly extreme American preacher who predicted through his radio program that Jesus Christ would return on May 21st, 2011, last year. And when that didn't happen, he sort of re-tweaked it again and said, "No, no, sorry, got it wrong." October 21st, that's the one. And in response to these predictions, his followers sold up their homes and their properties. They bought camper vans and what they call RVs over in America, and they went around the countryside warning people about the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Of course, both dates passed and nothing happened. And in fact, camping has been very apologetic since, all over the internet. Very apologetic, very embarrassed by these dates and he's actually gone right back into his shell, this guy. But you know, the sad thing is that it's people like Harold Camping, extremists who over the years have tended to reduce the interest that people have in the return of Christ. At one time, I mean, those of you of my vintage, you will recall that there was a time when, you know, this theme was a really popular preaching theme. I grew up in a church, particularly the one in Perth, where this was the main preaching theme pretty much every week, certainly every second week. And unfortunately, you know, maybe it's because of that over-excessive emphasis, that preoccupation with the second coming, that's why we don't hear too much about it today. It gave rise to some funny bumpy bumper stickers a few years ago, like, "Jesus is coming. Look busy." And one that I particularly like was, "Jesus is coming." And he's really ticked off, you know, so you better be careful. Well, you know, despite the ridicule and the attempts at humour, there has always been a high level of interest and fascination among the peoples of the world in the topic of the end times, and Hollywood has got into the act on this. And in the last decade or so, we've seen movies released like, "The Day After Tomorrow." "I Am Legend," that's a pretty scary one, 2012. And the day the earth stood still, just to name a few of them. And people point to the signs that they believe are the sort of the curtain raises to the return of Christ, like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis. And let's face it, over recent years, we have had instances of these sort of phenomenons that have been more serious than at any other time in our history. So naturally, it raises the questions among a lot of people. And of course, within the scientific world, the whole thing of the future of the planet is always being talked about, and the word sustainability is featured in most political and environmental debates today, even political discussions, the big word. Now in contrast to the growing interest in end times among the secular world, within the church, it seems to be declining. The interest seems to be declining. And I think it might be, as I mentioned a moment ago, because of this preoccupation, this over-emphasis in times gone by, in the body within Church of Christ, we had some specialists in the second coming, on the second coming topic, a guy like Keith McNaughton from Melbourne, and a guy like Dr. Daniel Jauncey, who was up in Queensland, and these guys would come to your church and they would run a week-long series on the theme of the return of Christ. And I've been at church, they've done four or five nights, and they have charts and elaborate diagrams and images trying to represent some of the, the teaching in, in revelation. Some of it was pretty scary, but it was all part of this excessive emphasis on the return of Christ. Well friends this morning, we're not going to start a four-week series, but we are going to give you four words. Four words, which I believe help to unlock the mystique, and even some of the confusion about this very, very compelling topic of the return of our Lord. I'm not talking about signs this morning, I'm not making predictions, I'm not, I'm not giving details of future events, mainly because there are so many viewpoints in these areas. And you can back all of them up with Scripture, and you can prove just about whatever you want to prove about the return of Christ on the basis of various scriptures. Know these four words reflect the teaching of the Bible, and they are words designed to encourage and strengthen us in our faith, particularly on this, on this topic. We live in the reality that He could return at any time, that's the Bible teaching. All four words start with, ah, not one of them is Rapture, they're different to that. The first word is reassurance. Let's remember that when Jesus made His promise about His future return, it was in the context of the disciples feeling very anxious. They were very nervous about what they were seeing and what was happening in the upper room. The last supper, and Jesus was in a melancholy kind of mood. He was talking about the fact that He would be betrayed. He even mentioned that Peter was about to deny Him, and this was different to the more optimistic, more positive Jesus that they were used to dealing with. And so I can well imagine there were questions flying all around the upper room. In fact, the Bible says that, and then comes the point when Jesus makes His response to these questions, and look at what He says in verse 1 of John chapter 14. Do not be worried and upset, Jesus told them, and then He goes on, there are many rooms in my Father's house, I'm going to prepare a place for you. It was Jesus' way of reassuring His followers and us, reassuring all of us that there's a clearly defined cosmic purpose to the work of the Kingdom. We must never allow feelings of futility and frustration to dominate our thinking when it comes to the work of the Kingdom, no matter how tough things get, no matter how successful the forces of evil may seem to be at times. The Bible teaches that there's coming a day when good will triumph over evil, when love will triumph over hate, when justice will prevail against exploitation. That day is coming, and it's the day when Jesus Christ will return, and usher us into eternity. The second word is redemption. The return of Jesus will seal and confirm our redemption. Now Jesus makes a remarkable statement in Luke chapter 21. It's in the context of a description of the signs which will precede His return. And some of these are very, very interesting in light of what's been happening in our world. He talks about strange things happening to the sun, the moon, the stars. He talks about nations being in despair because of the roar of the sea and the raging of the tides. He refers to his appearance as the son of man, and he says this in verse 28 of Luke chapter 21. These things begin to take place. Stand up, lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near. Now friends, of course redemption is a vitally important word for the Christian. It refers to God's initiative in restoring us to our rightful place as sons and daughters in His family. Let me throw a bit more light on this with Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, this of this, or by the blood of Christ we are set free. That is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God which He gave to us in such large measure, and over in Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14, He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of His dear son, by whom we are set free. That is, our sins are forgiven. Guys, when a person received Jesus Christ, they are redeemed. They are bought back by the blood of Christ, literally, by His sacrifice. They are bought back by God into His family, into the way He originally intended it to be. But not always do we feel redeemed and restored. Am I right? I mean, it's one thing to know that as a truth, but there are trials and hardships in life. There are seasons of suffering. There's our own waywardness and sinfulness that takes us off the pathway. That's the reality of the Christian journey. That's how it is. But the struggles, these struggles and influences in our lives, in no way reduce the reality, the truth of our redemption, but they can reduce the experience of redemption. We don't always feel redeemed. I speak to people virtually every week who say to me, "Grandma, it's into a lost my connection with God." You know, I'm feeling spiritually flat. My prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, you know. We don't always feel redeemed, but nothing takes away from the fact that we are redeemed if we're in Jesus Christ. And so, when Jesus returns, or we precede Him, we precede Him through death. Our ultimate redemption, our ultimate redemption, will be realized as we're ushered into an eternal existence where there is no more sin, no more suffering, no more mortality. For that which is mortal will become immortal. Lift up your heads, says Jesus, because your redemption is drawing near. That is the pure ultimate expression of our redemption and Him. We say a lot more about that if we had time. That's one of the real certainties associated with the return of Christ as is the certainty of reunion. That's the third word we're looking at today. The Christians in the city of Thessalonica, as James has mentioned, had many questions for Paul regarding the return of Christ and the status of the dead and so on. And in one of the many passages designed to provide clarity on the subject, Paul says this, we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe God will take back with Jesus at His return, those who have died with Him believing, those who have died rather believing in Him, verse 14 of the fourth chapter. Now friends, this is one of the many references in the New Testament to the great gathering of the redeemed in heaven. Now, I'm not one to speculate about the details of heaven. And there's no time to talk about the use of imagery in what we call apocalyptic literature, which is a whole study of a particular kind of literature dealing with the end times. I'll be honest with you. I'm not strong on streets of gold and so on. Look, if that's the way it is, then I won't be disappointed. But a lot of that is symbolic. I do know this, this is, I do know this, it is of enormous comfort and reassurance for me, and I know for many of you to think that there will be a reunion of loved ones who have died in Christ. That is just such a powerful source of hope for many of us who've lost loved ones. As I said, the details of how and how this is all going to work out, they're fairly incidental to me. I mean, the Bible says there's no marriage in heaven. Now, for some of you, it might be good news. But like if you've got a great marriage, it's hard to imagine a heavenly existence without being with the one you love. Some people get very nervous about the fact that they're going to have to spend eternity with certain relatives when even Christmas day can seem like an eternity. And they think like, how's that kind of work? Like I don't know. I don't think we need to worry about those kind of details, just leave that to God. The important thing is to celebrate and to savour that one day there will be a reunion with those in Christ who've gone before. The promise of immortality through Jesus is, I believe, the thing that enables us to make sense of the struggles of our mortality. It's kind of like what Paul says in Romans 8 verse 18, he says, "I consider what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us." And just as an aside, yeah, watching that Q and A the other week between John Dawkins and Dr. Pell, fascinating, I've got to watch it again, I've got it on tape. You know, when John Dawkins, one of his better moments, he said, "Well, of course, the Christian faith provides an answer to what is the purpose of life?" And John Dawkins made the extraordinary comment and saying, "That's an absurd question. What is the purpose of life?" That's an absurd question. And I thought, "Man, where have you been, who do you talk to?" That's the question everybody asks at some time or other, what are we here for? What is the purpose? And in Jesus Christ, we find that meaning, that purpose. Mortality is preparation for immortality. The final word is readiness. That's the response we're meant to make in light of Jesus' return. What did Jesus say in Luke 1240? You must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting Him. Friends, I believe readiness is our best response to these future events. Not predictions, not speculation, not big wall charts with all sorts of detail, no, it's readiness. Living a life that is worthy of our calling, living by God's strength, a life that is growing in our knowledge of Him, in our availability to Him to fill us and renew us. It's so different to how I was brought up by thinking that my eternal salvation would be dependent on what I was doing at the exact moment Jesus came again. And if you were sort of doing something wrong, having your first cigarette or go to the drive in or something like that, all those things that were terribly bad in my day, then that would put your eternal salvation in jeopardy. Our eternal future friends is based on our relationship with Jesus Christ. It's our relationship. And so that's a part of the readiness of daily walking with Him, reading the Scriptures, praying and praying, "God, I want to just be yours, fill me with Your Spirit, make me the best I can be for you." I don't know when Jesus is going to return. I get people ask me, "Oh, Graham, do you think these signs?" "Is this it?" I say, "Look, it's closer today than it was yesterday." I do know that, you know. But friends, it's a beautiful feeling of release when you know that whenever it happens, my eternal future is secure. That's not arrogance. That's not cockiness. That's not sort of like, "I'm better than anybody else." That's just the teaching of the Word. That's the freedom we have in Christ to know that and to be absolutely assured of that. Do you know that today? You can. You can't Jesus Christ into your life today, doing a prayer time. If you've gone a little bit off the track and that connection's been lost and you're really out of sync with the Lord, you can just pray for renewal today, inviting back into your experience. Get fair, ink and get honest with what's happening, what's going on, be real. He's only a prayer away in that sense, join together in prayer, shall we?